| 来源类型 | Working Paper
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| 规范类型 | 报告
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| DOI | 10.3386/w22595
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| 来源ID | Working Paper 22595
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| Understanding and Misunderstanding Randomized Controlled Trials |
| Angus Deaton; Nancy Cartwright
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| 发表日期 | 2016-09-01
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| 出版年 | 2016
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| 语种 | 英语
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| 摘要 | RCTs would be more useful if there were more realistic expectations of them and if their pitfalls were better recognized. For example, and contrary to many claims in the applied literature, randomization does not equalize everything but the treatment across treatments and controls, it does not automatically deliver a precise estimate of the average treatment effect (ATE), and it does not relieve us of the need to think about (observed or unobserved) confounders. Estimates apply to the trial sample only, sometimes a convenience sample, and usually selected; justification is required to extend them to other groups, including any population to which the trial sample belongs. Demanding “external validity” is unhelpful because it expects too much of an RCT while undervaluing its contribution. Statistical inference on ATEs involves hazards that are not always recognized. RCTs do indeed require minimal assumptions and can operate with little prior knowledge. This is an advantage when persuading distrustful audiences, but it is a disadvantage for cumulative scientific progress, where prior knowledge should be built upon and not discarded. RCTs can play a role in building scientific knowledge and useful predictions but they can only do so as part of a cumulative program, combining with other methods, including conceptual and theoretical development, to discover not “what works,” but “why things work”. |
| 主题 | Econometrics
; Estimation Methods
; Experimental Design
; Development and Growth
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| URL | https://www.nber.org/papers/w22595
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| 来源智库 | National Bureau of Economic Research (United States)
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| 引用统计 |
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| 资源类型 | 智库出版物
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| 条目标识符 | http://119.78.100.153/handle/2XGU8XDN/580269
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推荐引用方式
GB/T 7714 |
Angus Deaton,Nancy Cartwright. Understanding and Misunderstanding Randomized Controlled Trials. 2016.
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文件名：
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w22595.pdf
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格式：
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Adobe PDF
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